Abstract
Takane, Young, and de Leeuw proposed a procedure called FACTALS for the analysis of variables of mixed measurement levels (numerical, ordinal, or nominal). Mooijaart pointed out that their algorithm does not necessarily converge, and Nevels proposed a new algorithm for the case of nominal variables. In the present paper it is shown that Nevels' procedure is incorrect, and a new procedure for handling nominal variables is proposed. In addition, a procedure for handling ordinal variables is proposed. Using these results, a monotonically convergent algorithm is constructed for FACTALS of any mixture of variables.
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The authors are obliged to Jos ten Berge for stimulating comments on an earlier version of this paper. The research of H. A. L. Kiers has been made possible by a fellowship of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. The research of Y. Takane has been supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, grant number A6394, and by the McGill-IBM Cooperative Grant.
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Kiers, H.A.L., Takane, Y. & Mooijaart, A. A monotonically convergent algorithm for factals. Psychometrika 58, 567–574 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02294827
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02294827